Reflections
by The Key To Darkness
Summary: "I look into the jagged, shattered glass... to find nothing more than the reflection of a dark silhouette... a lifeless shadow of my counterpart... will I ever become anything more than this?" A prelude to Sora restoring Ven's heart at the beginning of Birth By Sleep.
1. Reflections

**Man! I have been inactive forever now! Well, beautiful people, I'm back and with a story, no doubt! :)**

**This isn't a romance one, actually… (Like my poll says I'm going to do…)**

**But do not fret! I am working on that one as well! I just decided to write this one cuz the idea made me quite curious…**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter I**

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(**Vanitas' P.O.V.**)

* * *

...

I fall to the ground, agonized from killing yet another one of those vile creatures…

The old man… Xehanort I think his name was… named them the Unversed. I'd rather them be considered demons. Because the only purpose they serve is tormenting me to the point of killing them… and then I feel the exact pain that I caused them to feel.

"I can't take anymore… Kingdom Hearts! Please… just put an end to me… I beg you…" I whisper to the silent, heart-shaped moon.

It's not like it could actually hear me… I mean, who would listen to a half-hearted being of pure darkness like me?

I rip off my helmet, shattering it against the ground…

"Worthless piece of-"

I stop myself… staring into the broken pieces of mirror-like glass…

I bring a hand to what should be my face… but it wasn't. I had a face of darkness with glowing red eyes. My hair was similar to my counterpart, Ventus's, hair. Only it was black and unmoving. I looked like a simple silhouette of another person… nothing more than a shadow.

I turn away from the glass to look across the Badlands. As I expect… Xehanort stands off in the distance… watching… as if waiting for me to do something.

I shake my head and turn back to the pieces of glass… to my reflection. The reflection of the face of darkness…

"Enough…" I whisper. "Enough." I repeat myself.

It gets silent for a while…

"Enough!" I scream into the clouded sky, shutting my eyes as tight as I possibly can. Tears slowly stream down my face, my pain pulling me into its clutches…

* * *

"_You look so hurt…_" A voice whispers inwardly.

* * *

I open my eyes again to see a world of black surrounding me. I stand on a strange glowing platform that fogs with darkness.

"Who… who are you?" I growl shakily.

"_Somebody from the light…_"

The voice is soft and child-like… but it echoes as if it's coming from my very mind…

… and I don't have a child voice.

"Why did you bring me here?" I ask, my voice monotone and lifeless.

"_Because I could feel you… I could feel your suffering through somebody else…_"

"I don't need your help… I don't need anyone's help…" I scoff, turning to walk away.

"_Everybody needs help at some point. You just don't have anybody to give it to you, Vanitas-"_

I growl, interrupting him harshly at the sound of my name. "Don't call me that."

"_That's your name…_"

I say nothing, leaving that as a cue for him to continue his boring little speech.

"_The only thing you need… is a friend to guide you back into the light. And I can help with that…_"

I cross my arms and stare at the floor, "I hate the light."

"_No… you've just neglected it for so long that you think you hate it…"_

I look up, turning back around to where I was facing before, "You wouldn't know… 'cuz you don't know me!"

The child's voice becomes silent…

"Well, it looks like I've finally succeeded in shutting you up…"

"_I do know you, Vanitas… because we're connected now. Let me show you what I mean._"

"What…?"

Another voice echoes throughout the dark world around me… the voice of Ventus…

"_**Open the door.**_"

A flash of light shines from the platform I stand on, forcing me to pull my arms over my face to protect my eyes.

* * *

The blindness that took over my vision slowly fades away, allowing me to open my eyes.

I lower my arms to see the familiar sandy grounds of the desolate Badlands. I'm back to where I was before… but that voice… I felt a longing to hear it again… because it felt as if somebody actually cared for me. Somebody… I could call my friend.

I glance up to see a lock of black hair brushing into my left eye.

"Funny… I always thought my hair was too short to get in my eyes… considering it looks like Ventus'…"

My eyes shoot open is realization.

I rush over to the pieces of black, broken glass that still lies in the dust. I fall onto my knees and lean over the glass to get a good look at my reflection.

"My gosh… is this for real?" I gasp, bringing a hand to my now life-filled face.

I stare into fiery, golden irises. My face has actual skin that seems quite pale in comparison to my black bodysuit. Then I look up to my hair…

Above my long, spiky bangs is even more spiky hair that seems to defy gravity. It spikes wildly on the left side of my head and less so on the right.

"I know who I am… I'm not just a silhouette…" I whisper to myself. "My name is… Vanitas…"

Vanitas… the reflection of darkness…

* * *

**So how'd I do? I hope I didn't bore you…**

**Anywho, this idea randomly came to mind when I was thinking about the scene where Sora restores Ven's heart in the beginning of BBS. Apologies for any spoilers I might have put in here, that I missed. If you want to bring any spoilers to my attention, tell me in a review cuz I check those every day. And be polite about it…**

**I'll be back with more soon! Thanks, guys. -KtD**


	2. Confliction

**Alright, so I know I said this was only going to be a one-shot at first… but after reading some of the official Birth By Sleep novel… I got inspiration to continue this.**

**So anyways, here comes the next part in this little Vanitas-narrated story.**

**Enjoy.**

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_Chapter II_

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I sit motionlessly on a tan, sandy rock in the middle of the Badlands.

Why, you may ask? I have two reasons.

One: I have nothing better to do.

Two: I'm trying to keep my thoughts off of the suffering that Xehanort puts me through on a daily basis.

It's like the old coot is actually **trying** to get me to spawn those nasty Unversed. And I don't appreciate the pain those stupid things cause me every time I end their pathetic existence.

It's not just physical pain either! The destruction of each and every one of them causes me such irritation, that it spawns one more. Or two. Or three…

See what I mean?

* * *

Another hour or so passes when suddenly a dark corridor opens several yards away from me.

"Well, looks like the old idiot finally made it back," I grumble.

He was just supposed to ditch the brat, Ventus, on that one island and then come right back.

With slow steps Xehanort walks out of it, seeming to guide somebody behind him.

"It seems plans have changed, Vanitas," The old man smiles. The smile was probably supposed to be reassuring, but it mostly just grossed me out.

"Huh? In what way?" I ask, half curious and half uncaring.

I stand up to see what surprise Xehanort has in store for me.

"Somebody has returned with me…" he stops, stepping aside and allowing another person to walk through.

My expression changes quickly from total shock, to cold-hearted rage.

"Ventus." I spit, sourly.

"Don't be so hostile, Vanitas. He is, after all, your counterpart." Xehanort chuckles.

"Yeah. My **weak **counterpart. He's useless. Plus, wasn't he a lifeless corpse when you took him earlier?" I grumble. There's got to be some sort of excuse to get this idiot out of my sight, for good.

Xehanort glares at me, "Forget it, Vanitas. Ventus is staying. Get used to it."

I glare, behind my mask. "Fine. I didn't give a damn anyways."

With that I walked away, leaving Xehanort to examine Ventus, who was in a zombie-like state.

No, I'm not even kidding. His eyes were blank and all he did was stare off in the distance the whole time I was talking.

He's still a lifeless corpse… only this time he can walk.

Which makes it even worse… because now we have the walking dead among our little "group."

* * *

I sit on my sandy rock, away from the old man and the blonde corpse. Every now and then, I take a glance over at Ventus.

My rage was slowly building up inside my chest. I felt envy over Ventus…

He obviously couldn't feel a thing. Nothing fazed him. He couldn't respond, he couldn't feel any emotions at all. He was… dead to the world.

Opposite to me.

All I could feel was constant emotions. And every time I did, one of those horrible Unversed would form. I was the cause of a horrible, vicious cycle.

Why did I have to be the tortured one?

Why did Ventus always get the good end of the deal?

Worst of all… why do I hate him so much?!

"I can't take this anymore!" I scream, jumping to my feet and ripping my black helmet off of my face.

Xehanort turns from Ventus to me, as I rush at them at full speed.

The old man quickly slides out of the way and I pull my helmet up over my head with both of my hands.

Ventus barely finds the energy to look up at me, with his lifeless, blue eyes.

I instantly bring the black helmet crashing down onto Ven's skull, knocking him to his hands and knees.

I don't stop there. I follow up, by throwing the helmet to the side, gripping Ven's hair and slamming my knee into his face. The impact of my knee-kick sends Ventus flying back and into the hot, orange dirt.

"Why do you make me hate you so much?!" I scream, walking over and jumping on top of him. My legs pin his torso to the ground while his arms lay limply on the dirt.

"Why?!"

He doesn't answer… as I should've expected.

"Answer me, you idiot!" I scream, pulling my right hand back and clenching it into a fist.

I didn't even give him a chance to speak, before I land my fist into his jaw. I proceed by doing the same with my left fist.

Right… left… right… left… right.

Finally I get sick of hearing nothing but grunts and yelps. "I'm going to end your pathetic existence if you don't snap out of it, you stupid idiot!"

All that comes out of Ventus's mouth is a low groan of pain, while he shuts his eyes tightly.

My teeth grind together furiously, my golden eyes dilating in horrible rage. By now, Unversed have spawned all over the place and are scrambling around for something to kill.

My fist clenches tightly, before summoning the fearsome Void Gear. "You're time's up! Now suffer!"

I lift it up in the air with both hands, ready to end his sorry life.

"Vanitas!" Xehanort yells, but I ignore his attempts to verbally control me.

"Say goodnight-"

Suddenly the Void Gear is ripped out of my grasp and thrown to the side. I turn around quickly, only for a gloved-hand to shoot out and grip me by the throat.

"Get… off of me… you bastard!" I choke out, as Xehanort lifts me into the air, my feet kicking wildly for him to release me from his death grip.

He pulls me closer to his face, so that his evil, golden eyes stare into my own.

"You will obey me. Or you will suffer the consequences."

With that, he throws me aside, like a piece of garbage, and I hit the ground with a thud.

"You know what? Fine. I will obey you. On **one** condition." I growl, my voice low and raspy.

Xehanort raises one of his thin, silver eye-brows.

"You get rid of Ventus. 'Cause you can throw me around all you want, but I can't guarantee that I'll be able to keep Ventus alive. He'll be in danger each and every day."

Xehanort looks down, using one hand to stroke his silver beard. "Alright… I'll take Ventus elsewhere. Then you will continue training, under my command."

"Fine. Just get him out of here, as soon as possible."

After that whole incident, Xehanort took Ventus and left to put him under somebody else's guidance. I think it was an old friend of Xehanort's. Master… Eraqus? Yeah… that was probably it.

But as soon as they left… I felt an entirely new emotion… one that I've never known before.

Remorse.

It felt as if… I didn't want Ventus to leave. But then again, I also felt such hatred and distaste for him.

Half of me wanted him to stay, while the other half wanted him to just be gone for good.

I was so confused, and these conflicting emotions just kept spawning more Unversed… which I ofcourse ended up killing mercilessly.

But for once it felt good to kill them…

Because the pain blocked out one thought in my mind that should have never came to mind…

That I wanted Ventus to be here again… to be here… for me.

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**This covers the next chapter of **_**Reflections**_**.**

**I'd appreciate it if you left a little review for me, to tell me what you think of the story so far. It'd help ****a lot****.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading. See you next chapter, I hope!**

**-**_**KtD**_


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